"[Eligible members of the class are:] All Persons who opened a PayPal account during the period from October 1, 1999 through January 31, 2004. Excluded from the class are [...] anyone who resides in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, or United Kingdom[...]
Thus, if you opened a PayPal account between October 1, 1999 and January 31, 2004, and are not one of the excluded persons listed above, you are a member of the class."
I was living in Chicago when I opened two paypal accounts around 2000 (one for me, one for my business, an online eBookseller), but now I'm living in Germany, and the business is still physically based in Springfield, Illinois, although I own half of it and do most of the work for it.
I wonder if I and/or my business still qualify as members of the class.
I'd mod you up for making an insightful point, but I had to respond... I wish I could mod the whole article down. Look at their sample sizes! All reliability ratings I've ever seen are next to worthless.
The only way I can think of to get useful, accurate, reliable information would be for the manufacturers themselves to release their data.
Perhaps Congress should give the FTC the power to implement a computer reliability ratings database for all manufacturers doing business in the USA. In economic terms, it would be similar to crash testing in the automotive industry. It temporarily increases the cost for the manufacturers to do business (gathering and organizing the data would be expensive), but it would increase competition, and eventually consumers would benefit from more reliable computers and better repair service, just as we all now benefit from safer cars since crash testing was implemented.
"Although, the flaw in this (rather basdly though out) analogy between the Newton and the NES would be one of them sold extremely well..."
Your comparison of the Newton to the Nintendo Entertainment System is insightful, but the greater flaw in your analogy is that Nintendo released later generations of the NES, i.e. the Super Nintendo, N64, and GameCube. You can play the GameCube instead of the Sony Playstation, but you can't use an iNewton2 instead of a Sony Clie.
Nintendo took the market share it had established with the original NES, and then channeled it into the Super Nintendo, another successful console. Even now, almost two decades since I first player Super Mario Brothers, I can play Super Mario Sunshine on the Gamecube.
Apple, on the other hand, has apparently squandered the lead it had with handhelds. Apple had (and amazingly, still has) an ardent user base for the Newton. Steve must realize this. Therefore, although Apple has a lot on its plate right now, I would not be surprised to see a resurrection of the Newton ("iNewton", "iPalm", etc), or for the iPod to evolve into a machine with handheld-like functionality.
This is one of the better decision-making books I've read. I'd give it an 8/10. Here's a 3-point summary of what I got out of the book:
1 - The primary goal of the book is to show how to use the 2x2 matrix to improve decision-making.
2 - More specifically, it shows that the process of distilling business problems into two opposing axes can be useful.
3 - This book shows how to use 2x2 thinking to gain a better understanding of the key tradeoffs in decision-making and to identify solutions which transcend those tradeoffs.
Sounds interesting? Read the book! Sounds a bit to practical? Go watch T.V.!
I remember reading an article about 6 months ago in Wired about the waste problem and some recent legislation to help combat it. In particular, it talks about the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003, and various new incentives in the tax code. A short read, it's an easy way to quickly understand the current state of computer waste legislation in America.
Also, the article specifically mentions Dell's recycling efforts: "Computer makers such as Round Rock-based Dell Inc. have stepped up programs to take back old PCs" No mention of HP, though, so maybe HP is just doing a better job of publicizing their program, despite being about half a year later than Dell.
Relevant excerpt: "...The marriage of Linspire and Sub300.com computer systems is made in heaven. Linspire allows Sub300.com to include an operating system at the price some others sell their systems with no operating system at all." -- Marc Silverman, President, Sub300.com[emphasis added].
No... wait... it's just the same as Sub300.com but 200$ more expensive.
"Computer systems for under $300!"
On that note, it seems Lindows needs to update their Linspire testimonials page. "The marriage of Linspire and Sub300.com computer systems is made in heaven" -- Marc Silverman, President, Sub300.com
Will Senn had been publicly contemplating this for at least about a month now. I first read about it from his listserv post here("Hi all, I am considering beginning a Minix from Scratch
project...")
It's interesting to see Tannenbaum's influence on Senn: "I have to be upfront with you, I am a fair newbie at
Minix. I have been using Linux since the 0.9 kernel
(downloaded via ftp on VMS in 90s) and have a fairly
decent background in Unix - solaris, sco, bsd, etc. I
got interested in Minix back around the same time too,
but I had success with Linux and stayed with it. I got
reminded of Minix the other day when Andrew Tanenbaum
posted his response to the 'Brown' book - pure
enlightenment - http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/brown/."[emphasis added]
From the article: We still believe that it is important to have a work environment that is fun. That is still true, just as much now as it was when we started, even though instead of having one massage therapist come in, you know, a few times a day, we have, you know, a whole crew going in, making sure that everyone can get a massage who wants or needs it. (emphasis added)
Here is a well written review worth reading before you go.
"If you've never seen Godzilla before, you might actually be impressed by the quality of the acting and script. This isn't a scream-queen b-movie, despite its reputation. Most of the characters seem genuinely terrified of the thin air they're staring into before Godzilla is matted in..."
Well the best hope in my humbel opinion is the research may lead to better materials for seatbelts and bullet proof vests..... the world needs a better 10 micron seatbelt....
To clarify a little something for any non-physicists out there: Seat belts are designed to distribute force evenly across the strongest parts of a vehicle occupant's body (the hips and chest). We already have materials strong enough that 10 microns could restrain an accident victim, but a 10-micron seat belt would cut through your flesh, probably down to the bone in the case of an accident.
In other words, the world does not need a better 10 micron seat belt.
"we all seem to concentrate on short term benefits and ignore the long term consequences, be it government budget deficits, long term research funding, balking at online music distribution, moving jobs off shore or the environment.
"
You forgot one example: Military policy. Think of all the children in the middle east right now who are getting houses and cities bombed by 'American bombs' and having their fathers killed by 'American soldiers'. In 25 years, they will all be grown up, and they will hate America as much as their fathers did.
This will probably get modded off-topic, but it's just a response to your generalization about society's impulses.
Unfortunately, most pizza places don't have pizza-ordering web pages that are easy to use on a cell phone. But I wouldn't be surprised if that changes in the next year or two.
When the Federal Communications Commission came calling to shut down two local pirate radio stations late last year, the pirates say they got hit with a heavy dose of law enforcement muscle - choppers, submachine guns, flak jackets and other equipment and tactics usually seen in the takedown of killers or major drug desperados. (emphasis added)
Though it may take years for any software platform in a Third World continent -- whether open source or proprietary -- to become commercially viable on the same scale as in the United States and European markets, some of the factors that have impeded the fast adoption of Linux will make Africa an interesting battleground for the open-source movement.
He must be joking, the Newton is over 5 years old. but if anyone is interested in the Newton, check out www.unna.org, a large repository of stuff related to this near-ancient PDA.
Slashdot Mirror
I for one welcome our DNA-speaking, laser-shooting overlords. :-D
Excluded from the class are [...] anyone who resides in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, or United Kingdom[...]
Thus, if you opened a PayPal account between October 1, 1999 and January 31, 2004, and are not one of the excluded persons listed above, you are a member of the class."
I was living in Chicago when I opened two paypal accounts around 2000 (one for me, one for my business, an online eBookseller), but now I'm living in Germany, and the business is still physically based in Springfield, Illinois, although I own half of it and do most of the work for it.
I wonder if I and/or my business still qualify as members of the class.
Oh, sorry, I thought the title said "Threat To Sue JarJar"
The only way I can think of to get useful, accurate, reliable information would be for the manufacturers themselves to release their data.
Perhaps Congress should give the FTC the power to implement a computer reliability ratings database for all manufacturers doing business in the USA. In economic terms, it would be similar to crash testing in the automotive industry. It temporarily increases the cost for the manufacturers to do business (gathering and organizing the data would be expensive), but it would increase competition, and eventually consumers would benefit from more reliable computers and better repair service, just as we all now benefit from safer cars since crash testing was implemented.
I work at a automotive repair shop. Sometimes while I'm at work, I sneak into my boss's office to post replies to slashdot articles. Umm I gotta go...
Your comparison of the Newton to the Nintendo Entertainment System is insightful, but the greater flaw in your analogy is that Nintendo released later generations of the NES, i.e. the Super Nintendo, N64, and GameCube. You can play the GameCube instead of the Sony Playstation, but you can't use an iNewton2 instead of a Sony Clie.
Nintendo took the market share it had established with the original NES, and then channeled it into the Super Nintendo, another successful console. Even now, almost two decades since I first player Super Mario Brothers, I can play Super Mario Sunshine on the Gamecube.
Apple, on the other hand, has apparently squandered the lead it had with handhelds. Apple had (and amazingly, still has) an ardent user base for the Newton. Steve must realize this. Therefore, although Apple has a lot on its plate right now, I would not be surprised to see a resurrection of the Newton ("iNewton", "iPalm", etc), or for the iPod to evolve into a machine with handheld-like functionality.
Apple is making toilets now?
1 - The primary goal of the book is to show how to use the 2x2 matrix to improve decision-making.
2 - More specifically, it shows that the process of distilling business problems into two opposing axes can be useful.
3 - This book shows how to use 2x2 thinking to gain a better understanding of the key tradeoffs in decision-making and to identify solutions which transcend those tradeoffs.
Sounds interesting? Read the book! Sounds a bit to practical? Go watch T.V.!
Also, the article specifically mentions Dell's recycling efforts:
"Computer makers such as Round Rock-based Dell Inc. have stepped up programs to take back old PCs"
No mention of HP, though, so maybe HP is just doing a better job of publicizing their program, despite being about half a year later than Dell.
Relevant excerpt: "...The marriage of Linspire and Sub300.com computer systems is made in heaven. Linspire allows Sub300.com to include an operating system at the price some others sell their systems with no operating system at all." -- Marc Silverman, President, Sub300.com[emphasis added].
"Computer systems for well under $500"!!!!!
No... wait... it's just the same as Sub300.com but 200$ more expensive.
"Computer systems for under $300!"
On that note, it seems Lindows needs to update their Linspire testimonials page. "The marriage of Linspire and Sub300.com computer systems is made in heaven" -- Marc Silverman, President, Sub300.com
It's interesting to see Tannenbaum's influence on Senn:
"I have to be upfront with you, I am a fair newbie at Minix. I have been using Linux since the 0.9 kernel (downloaded via ftp on VMS in 90s) and have a fairly decent background in Unix - solaris, sco, bsd, etc. I got interested in Minix back around the same time too, but I had success with Linux and stayed with it. I got reminded of Minix the other day when Andrew Tanenbaum posted his response to the 'Brown' book - pure enlightenment - http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/brown/."[emphasis added]
Here is some more background infoon the genesis of the project.
From the article: We still believe that it is important to have a work environment that is fun. That is still true, just as much now as it was when we started, even though instead of having one massage therapist come in, you know, a few times a day, we have, you know, a whole crew going in, making sure that everyone can get a massage who wants or needs it. (emphasis added)
No, this is the time share company. They are located in Asspen, Florida
Are the astronauts shielded by radiation?
The humans and the devices are inside this thing called a space station that's designed to block space radiation.
No, definitely not. I'm absolutely certain he was referring to TriCoders.
Darn anonymous coward beat me to the imdb link by 10 seconds, so now I'm redundant. grrrr
"If you've never seen Godzilla before, you might actually be impressed by the quality of the acting and script. This isn't a scream-queen b-movie, despite its reputation. Most of the characters seem genuinely terrified of the thin air they're staring into before Godzilla is matted in..."
And I would be remiss if I didn't remind you to check out the imdb
To clarify a little something for any non-physicists out there: Seat belts are designed to distribute force evenly across the strongest parts of a vehicle occupant's body (the hips and chest). We already have materials strong enough that 10 microns could restrain an accident victim, but a 10-micron seat belt would cut through your flesh, probably down to the bone in the case of an accident.
In other words, the world does not need a better 10 micron seat belt.
You forgot one example: Military policy. Think of all the children in the middle east right now who are getting houses and cities bombed by 'American bombs' and having their fathers killed by 'American soldiers'. In 25 years, they will all be grown up, and they will hate America as much as their fathers did.
This will probably get modded off-topic, but it's just a response to your generalization about society's impulses.
Unfortunately, most pizza places don't have pizza-ordering web pages that are easy to use on a cell phone. But I wouldn't be surprised if that changes in the next year or two.
Young Skywalker, do not underestimate the power of the FCC:
When the Federal Communications Commission came calling to shut down two local pirate radio stations late last year, the pirates say they got hit with a heavy dose of law enforcement muscle - choppers, submachine guns, flak jackets and other equipment and tactics usually seen in the takedown of killers or major drug desperados. (emphasis added)
Though it may take years for any software platform in a Third World continent -- whether open source or proprietary -- to become commercially viable on the same scale as in the United States and European markets, some of the factors that have impeded the fast adoption of Linux will make Africa an interesting battleground for the open-source movement.
He must be joking, the Newton is over 5 years old. but if anyone is interested in the Newton, check out www.unna.org, a large repository of stuff related to this near-ancient PDA.
Spam? Oh, that is soooo 2003. Spam isn't supposed to be around anymore. There's a big Federal Law that was supposed to take care of that.