More likely a "this is what you get for speaking so many different languages" tax.
Translators cost money, and take time to do their stuff (which still doesn't excuse taking about two years to come up with a European release of Animal Crossing on the Gamecube, mind...)
I can, though, see a sci-fi setting where I can pull some Red Bull from a vending machine that boosts my power (or even lets me fly:)).
Worms 3D already had Red Bull as a power-up. I think it made you move faster, but I only played the demo for a bit before deciding Worms should have stayed 2D:)
Or use something like Markdown for user input, so they won't need to write HTML.
Of course, if your users are anything like the ones I know, you'll then have to make their favourite WYSWIG editor output Markdown before they'll go anywhere near it:(
I keep an IM client running at each end (needs two accounts, since nobody seems to support being logged in from two places simultaneously) and just drag the links into the window as I find them.
Of course, this doesn't work if your employer blocks IM traffic - or if you don't leave your home machine running 24/7 (but this is Slashdot, after all...)
Uh, doesn't that just say that if you click on an ad, buy something and the advertiser rips you off, then LJ's not responsible?
Interesting point about epilepsy, though - does disabling animation, so the ads display their first frame but no other, count as blocking? (Not that you can do that with Flash, but still...)
I'd imagine that requiring epileptics to either view animations that could injure them or not use the site would contravene various disability discrimination laws.
Good idea with the red text - but NO BLINKING! EVER!
I hate blinking text. Any browser that makes something blink every time I load a page is a browser that's going to get replaced with something else in very short order unless I can turn that off (hurrah for browser.blink_allowed = false:)
Incidentally, the bankvvest domain name would have been a lot easier to spot with a monospaced font in the address bar. Shame that's such a pain for non-technical users to configure in Firefox - maybe it should be the default.
But it's clear that people are getting nowhere near as much bang for their buck.
I'm not so sure about that - that 1Gb of RAM probably sells now for what 64Mb did back in the Win98 days. Similarly, compare hard drive and CPU prices.
You're probably paying the same money for a whole lot more grunt. Granted, that grunt then gets consumed by the new features in the software - although useful features (such as spellchecking as you type, Exposé, or font preview in the font menu) are worth it.
That sodding paperclip, however, is a total waste.
Using ad-serving companies with non-annoying (no animation, popups and the like) models, like Google's?
Although, that said, Google's ads can be annoying enough to block, if they're placed in the middle of the article (see shinyshiny.tv for an example) - but at least you can use the client ID to just block the ads on the sites that do that, while letting everyone else run their ads unmolested.
Well, if the transaction goes through with just a squiggle that doesn't look like your signature, then anyone can use your card to buy stuff there in any case, because the signature's not being checked properly...
OTOH, one of the couriers that delivers stuff here (can't remember which one, now) has gone back to getting the signatures on paper-based forms rather than PDAs, ostensibly for that exact same reason. (I suspect it was more to do with paper being cheaper than a load of easily-lost, fairly fragile electronics, though:)
I think he was referring to the spit-roasting part.
I'm fairly sure that if Ferrari produced a bunch of promotional material showing the horse crapping on the Porsche logo someone would say the same sort of thing:)
Well, if someone were to post notices around your town alleging that you interfered with small boys, that speech would probably hurt you, whether or not it were true.
Certainly, even with no corroborating evidence, there'd be some folk who'd believe there must be something to the allegations - and some of them would probably still believe there was something dodgy going on, even if you successfully sued for libel. (Michael Jackson, anyone?)
Magic Profiles Pro lets you do that (if you're on a P800/900/910, anyway) — set your phone to divert to voicemail on a busy signal, then have Magic Profiles send a busy signal to the calls you don't want.
Spam is still a problem. Even if it's all being filtered at your ISP so you don't have to download it, you're still paying for all the bandwidth used, the machines used to filter the spam, the staff time used to configure them (and make sure there are no false positives) - and so on. This is from the perspective of someone who spends more time tweaking Spamassassin at work than he really would like, BTW.
If it's not being filtered at your ISP, then it's slowing down your connection just downloading the stuff. If you've got infinite bandwidth, please let me know if your ISP offers connections in the UK:)
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Translators cost money, and take time to do their stuff (which still doesn't excuse taking about two years to come up with a European release of Animal Crossing on the Gamecube, mind...)
("As far away from me as possible" is a perfectly acceptable answer, BTW :)
Of course, if your users are anything like the ones I know, you'll then have to make their favourite WYSWIG editor output Markdown before they'll go anywhere near it :(
Skype have already answered this - when you make any SkypeOut call, paid or free, the 180-day counter will reset.
I'll have to pass on the bonus points, though...
As ever, duct tape is your friend...
Of course, this doesn't work if your employer blocks IM traffic - or if you don't leave your home machine running 24/7 (but this is Slashdot, after all...)
Interesting point about epilepsy, though - does disabling animation, so the ads display their first frame but no other, count as blocking? (Not that you can do that with Flash, but still...)
I'd imagine that requiring epileptics to either view animations that could injure them or not use the site would contravene various disability discrimination laws.
I hate blinking text. Any browser that makes something blink every time I load a page is a browser that's going to get replaced with something else in very short order unless I can turn that off (hurrah for browser.blink_allowed = false :)
Incidentally, the bankvvest domain name would have been a lot easier to spot with a monospaced font in the address bar. Shame that's such a pain for non-technical users to configure in Firefox - maybe it should be the default.
You're probably paying the same money for a whole lot more grunt. Granted, that grunt then gets consumed by the new features in the software - although useful features (such as spellchecking as you type, Exposé, or font preview in the font menu) are worth it.
That sodding paperclip, however, is a total waste.
Or use the Nightly Tester Tools to force them to install anyway, which involves a whole lot less fiddling about :)
Although, that said, Google's ads can be annoying enough to block, if they're placed in the middle of the article (see shinyshiny.tv for an example) - but at least you can use the client ID to just block the ads on the sites that do that, while letting everyone else run their ads unmolested.
OTOH, one of the couriers that delivers stuff here (can't remember which one, now) has gone back to getting the signatures on paper-based forms rather than PDAs, ostensibly for that exact same reason. (I suspect it was more to do with paper being cheaper than a load of easily-lost, fairly fragile electronics, though :)
I'm fairly sure that if Ferrari produced a bunch of promotional material showing the horse crapping on the Porsche logo someone would say the same sort of thing :)
Certainly, even with no corroborating evidence, there'd be some folk who'd believe there must be something to the allegations - and some of them would probably still believe there was something dodgy going on, even if you successfully sued for libel. (Michael Jackson, anyone?)
Every hotel will be painted with this stuff. Oh look, now you have to use the hideously expensive room phone.
Magic Profiles Pro lets you do that (if you're on a P800/900/910, anyway) — set your phone to divert to voicemail on a busy signal, then have Magic Profiles send a busy signal to the calls you don't want.
If it's not being filtered at your ISP, then it's slowing down your connection just downloading the stuff. If you've got infinite bandwidth, please let me know if your ISP offers connections in the UK :)
I turned the boat until it was going the way I wanted, then let go of the stick.
Still could have done with things being a little closer together, though.