Saying that hybrid-engine cars are a silly fad might be a bit strong, but many automakers and analysts have said that gas-electric engines are a transitional technology that eventually will be replaced by hydrogen-powered fuel cells. Experts say that fuel cell technology is at least a decade or two away, yet.
"They make a nice story, but they're not a good business story yet because the value is lower than their cost," Ghosn said. "The same is true for fuel cells. The cost to build one fuel cell car is about $800,000. Do the math and you figure out we'll have to reduce the cost of that car by 95 percent to gain widespread marketplace acceptance.
"Nissan is a profit-driven company," he said. "If volume growth is antagonistic to profit, we don't want to go there. We don't want to build or sell cars that don't make a profit."
So the fact that there is a very small profit margin on hybrid cars, plus they only represented about 5% of the 16.9 million vehicles sold in the United States in 2004, is not exactly a great incentive for automakers making more hybrids. That may be why they are putting the hybrid engines in the higher end cars and a few SUVs: to squeeze out more profit.
Economist Paul Erdman feels that we will see gas prices hit $4 per gallon sometime in the next five years.
When you consider that OPEC is currently pumping out as much or more oil than it ever has before in it's history, and growth in China is causing their demand for fossil fuels to grow exponentially every year, you can see that there is a crash coming in the future.
As further evidence that this prediction is not as crazy as it first sounds, I submit this photo.
As to the blacklisting, according this interesting article in the Boston Globe:
Clark [dean of Harvard Business School] said that rejected applicants won't be barred from reapplying in future years, but he said admissions officials would weigh the hacking incident in considering such applications. Only students expelled from the school are prohibited from reapplying, he said.
As to the possibility of applicants sending apologies, something discussed on message boards over the weekend, Clark said: ''Whether apologies or other stuff happens, that is certainly something people can do. It may help them come to grips with what has happened. But for this year, and for now, our statement is very clear."
An interesting opinion on this is also given in the same article:
One admissions consultant, Sanford Kreisberg of Cambridge Essay Service, which helps students apply to elite US business schools, said he thought Harvard was overreacting.
''What they did was stupid, but that's all it was," Kreisberg said. ''This seems needlessly harsh and rigid. I think it's inflexible, and it's wrong, and it doesn't treat individual circumstances."
Kreisberg said some applicants may had [sic] inadvertently tried to access the files, without realizing they were looking for confidential information, after they were e-mailed directions from other students who had copied them from the BusinessWeek message board.
Apparently, most of the 119 applicants saw only blank screens when they hacked into their files, while only a few saw the preliminary decisions regarding their admittance.
At least this robot might create the opportunity to go play outside.
Looking these threads makes me wonder if anyone actually reads the article (and no, I'm not new here, I know that few do).
This is about a teddy bear that sits in the corner. The only thing that moves on it is its head. Not much of a robot! It doesn't appear to do anything more than act as an interface so that a parent could observe and possibly communicate with the child through VOIP.
This would never replace a human. It's more of a comfort accessory for both the child and the parent when they are seperated, whether in seperate rooms or if the child is in childcare while the parent is at work. Clearly not a substitute for adult supervision.
It all boils down to being just another fancy baby monitior.
The government does not exist to provide entertainment for the citizens. In my opinion, libraries are a waste of the taxpayers money.
The government exists to serve the people. Thus roads get built and are maintained, electricity and water is provided, as well as social aspects like museums, theaters, etc. Things that we as individuals can't afford are paid for via taxes. I'm not saying that there isn't wasteful spending of taxes, but libraries are not exactly "pork barrel" projects.
I live in Mesa, AZ, (third largest city in the state after Phoenix and Tucson) and currently they have cut the library budget so deeply that the city library can't afford to purchase new books and have turned to the public by providing a wish list for donors who would like to contribute.
And you suppose that libraries provide a good service for those who can't otherwise afford such things?
I know that they do. My family frequently visits the library - almost on a weekly basis. If we had to purchase all the books that we have ever checked out, we could not possibly afford it. Our library also provides a dozen computers with internet access (which are always in use, with waiting lines BTW) for people to use who otherwise would have no access.
Libraries are mainly used by the middle class, a class that is shrinking because of the burden of taxes.
I agree with you about the taxes to a degree, but I think that the bigger problem is that greedy companies and stockholders are demanding high profits above all else (the rich getting richer) while the middle class is expected to make do with the same salary levels as 2-3 years ago and every thing else gets more expensive. Those same companies also expect us in the middle to try to keep up by using "planned obsolescense" and encouraging us to buy, buy, buy, even when we don't really need that new car or new house or new game. This is what is pushing the middle class down to the poorer ranks, IMO.
Libraries already carry videos, DVDs and CDs, so this seems to be a logical next step for them. Libraries even used to provide record albums for checking out starting back in the '70's, so they have a long history behind this.
Making all these things available for free is what libraries are about - a resource for those who can't afford it. Not everyone can buy every $30-$50 game that they want. If the libraries are providing educational games, as well as the fun time-wasters, then its a good public service.
I believe that what's being referred to is Declan McCullagh's (the author of the above article) counter example:
It would be just as easy to argue that True.com should be required to post labels on each page: "WARNING: TRUE.COM'S BACKGROUND SEARCHES WILL NOT IDENTIFY CRIMINALS USING FAKE NAMES. AND THE COST TO RUN THEM MAY BE PASSED ON TO YOU."
in response to True.com CEO Herb Vest's proposal:
Those sites would be required to stamp this stark warning atop every e-mail and personal ad, in no less than 12-point type: "WARNING: WE HAVE NOT CONDUCTED A FELONY-CONVICTION SEARCH OR FBI SEARCH ON THIS INDIVIDUAL."
Transmission from planet Vulcan to Lord Prox... thousands of nerd-like beings are trying to access your data... *bzzt, crackle*... Malfunction! Malfunction!
This may be one of those things where on the surface it reflects well on Microsoft, good PR and all, but rarely will they actually pay out.
Look at rebates. People buy something thinking that they are going to get a $5 dollar rebate, but then there are too many steps, too much hassle to fill out the forms, or they just forget about it. Only a small precentage of the rebates are actually claimed.
Plus, who knows what kind of hoops you might have to jump through to prove that you are eligible for the $5. Maybe this is yet another way for them to get you to verify to them that you have a valid (legally paid for) OS. No valid OS, no $5.
If you enable the Mystery Science Theater 3000 feature, you can enter and read funny comments about the Samus murals. Refresh the pages to read new comments. Hilarious!
Dell is a smart company that runs a lean & mean R&D machine. They seemingly put a lot of thought into new product introduction as well as price point. These folks are going to be hellish successful for a long time. It doesn't really matter much what product they are putting out, they seem to do it well. Hate 'em or love 'em, you gotta admire them.
From watching the preview, my guess is that Humma Kavula/John Malkovich is the character sitting at the dining room table that stands up and has no body below the edge of the table, just a bunch of tiny little robot legs. It went by so quickly that I couldn't be sure that it was Malkovich, though.
That's about one step short of the RIAA charging me every time I hear a song in a public place...
Listening to music is free, just like looking at this sculpture is free. Playing the music (esp. in public venues where it is part of a business situation: restaurants, shops, radio stations) is where the money comes into it. The RIAA wants to be reimbursed for the use of the music in those situations.
I wouldn't be surprised if the situation were similar with Cloudgate (why does this make me think of Watergate, Iran-gate, Clinton-gate and just about any other scandal in recent years?). The artist and/or whoever "owns" the sculpture wants to be reimbursed for any money made from photographs taken of the sculpture for commercial purposes, such as stock photos of Chicago for instance.
Probably the average tourist is safe, though it could be difficult to judge who is the average tourist and who is going to end up trying to profit from the photos.
I don't understand why so many people are upset about this. Every time you go to a blog (and many, many times they are linked from Slashdot) you see ads, most often Google's AdSense. Hello-o-o! Those people are trying to make money! It's just that this one guy has blatantly stated that he's trying to make money from his blog - but everyone who incorporates Adsense or Amazon referal links, etc. is trying to do the same exact thing.
Google (and Amazon,etc) encourages this. Don't believe me?
Google owns blogger.com. Blogger.com encourages bloggers to sign-up for AdSense. They even have a how-to in their help section. Quote:
"This may shock you at first so steel yourself for the idea. Ready? We are going to start paying bloggers. Soon you will be blogging for dollars. That's right people, chocolate is to peanut butter like AdSense is to blogs."
and...
"So, if you blog about baseball, there might be ads for Major League Baseball memorabilia next to your post. If you blog about painting, there might be ads for art supplies. In fact, when you blog about something specific, there's a good chance you'll earn more..."
Google likes this, because they stand to earn the most money whenever anyone clicks their AdSense ads. Bloggers get just a small piece of the action as a referrer.
They do point out that it's a no-no to start a blog just for money or to promote click-fraud (as in encouraging people to purposely click on the ads). Nor is the blogger to share with others how much they've earned. I think these areas are where Buffington has gone wrong. If you don't come out and say "I'm just blogging about this stuff to make money on the ad revenue", who is gonna know what your motives are? Face it, if there are ads, someone is trying to make some money from them.
Unless you're Mark Jen who now has Adsense on his blog 99zeros, but says that all the proceeds from it will go to charity.
I visited the weblog about 3 and 1/2 hours after this story was posted. There was only one ad showing in the AdSense box and it had the word "mesothelioma" in the title...
Another poster mentioned that "Unfortunately, pretty much half of a cell tower's radius would be in mostly-unoccupied ocean." Considering the pervasiveness of cell phones, boaters could use their phones for 911 calls in emergencies on the water. The use of cell phones for marine communication is becoming more the norm. The ability to reach a local tower would aid those dialing 911, enabling them to go directly to emergency services, thereby avoiding delays during emergency situations.
Well, that video was like a 10 minute commercial for Zero-G, Volvo, and Diet Rite all in one. Very glowing, "Every one should try this" and "Don't worry about space sickness. It's not a big deal!" The only thing they didn't include was the cost. So here you are - for the next two available flights:
Flight ZG-28 from Fort Lauderdale, FL - Saturday, Mar 12, 2005 - $3,750.00 + Tax
Flight ZG-29 from Fort Lauderdale, FL - Saturday, Apr 09, 2005 - $3,750.00 + Tax
A more realistic (less-paid-endorsement-like) first person account of a ride on the "vomit comet" can be found here. I think that I'll stick to getting my zero gravity thrills on a roller coaster, thanks!
Take this thought another step... Say 10,000 people send in $12 each to some bank account that some fan sets up. That's $120,000, not enough to "save" the show since it is far below the amount needed even if Paramount were to accept the fans' money. Now what? Are they going to send the money back to everyone? Who decides what to do with all those funds? Lawsuit city, next exit....
Looks to me like they are marketing this as a portable mini-entertainment center. By including the Spiderman 2 movie, they are differentiating themselves from other handhelds.
I'm wondering how much the UMD disc movies will cost. Will people really want to buy yet another version of their favorite movies for $19.99 (price amount is just a guess)?
Yes, I have downloaded Opera 6.03 and tried it. The free version, unfortunately, has ads included. If you want the ad-free version, you need to buy it for $39. I found the free version to be slow (maybe due to the included ads? maybe not?) and page rendering was not as good on it as I would have liked. Words overlapped pictures or other words, elements don't line up properly, and message boxes often had no messages in them. It was a less than satisfactory experience for me. Based on that, I didn't really want to pay for the ad-free version.:(
Slashdot Mirror
Server crashing; google caches...
DS
PSP
The hybrid-engine cars of today are a silly fad.
Saying that hybrid-engine cars are a silly fad might be a bit strong, but many automakers and analysts have said that gas-electric engines are a transitional technology that eventually will be replaced by hydrogen-powered fuel cells. Experts say that fuel cell technology is at least a decade or two away, yet.
Heck, the CEO of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, says that he's not sold on the "business case" for hybrids:
- "They make a nice story, but they're not a good business story yet because the value is lower than their cost," Ghosn said. "The same is true for fuel cells. The cost to build one fuel cell car is about $800,000. Do the math and you figure out we'll have to reduce the cost of that car by 95 percent to gain widespread marketplace acceptance.
So the fact that there is a very small profit margin on hybrid cars, plus they only represented about 5% of the 16.9 million vehicles sold in the United States in 2004, is not exactly a great incentive for automakers making more hybrids. That may be why they are putting the hybrid engines in the higher end cars and a few SUVs: to squeeze out more profit."Nissan is a profit-driven company," he said. "If volume growth is antagonistic to profit, we don't want to go there. We don't want to build or sell cars that don't make a profit."
Economist Paul Erdman feels that we will see gas prices hit $4 per gallon sometime in the next five years.
When you consider that OPEC is currently pumping out as much or more oil than it ever has before in it's history, and growth in China is causing their demand for fossil fuels to grow exponentially every year, you can see that there is a crash coming in the future.
As further evidence that this prediction is not as crazy as it first sounds, I submit this photo.
- Clark [dean of Harvard Business School] said that rejected applicants won't be barred from reapplying in future years, but he said admissions officials would weigh the hacking incident in considering such applications. Only students expelled from the school are prohibited from reapplying, he said.
An interesting opinion on this is also given in the same article:As to the possibility of applicants sending apologies, something discussed on message boards over the weekend, Clark said: ''Whether apologies or other stuff happens, that is certainly something people can do. It may help them come to grips with what has happened. But for this year, and for now, our statement is very clear."
-
One admissions consultant, Sanford Kreisberg of Cambridge Essay Service, which helps students apply to elite US business schools, said he thought Harvard was overreacting.
Apparently, most of the 119 applicants saw only blank screens when they hacked into their files, while only a few saw the preliminary decisions regarding their admittance.''What they did was stupid, but that's all it was," Kreisberg said. ''This seems needlessly harsh and rigid. I think it's inflexible, and it's wrong, and it doesn't treat individual circumstances."
Kreisberg said some applicants may had [sic] inadvertently tried to access the files, without realizing they were looking for confidential information, after they were e-mailed directions from other students who had copied them from the BusinessWeek message board.
The AP story I read said the Global Flyer got assistance in the form of strong tail winds, which would help to conserve fuel and shave off time.
The article also has some links to video of the landing and a Steve Fossett post-landing press conference video.
At least this robot might create the opportunity to go play outside.
Looking these threads makes me wonder if anyone actually reads the article (and no, I'm not new here, I know that few do).
This is about a teddy bear that sits in the corner. The only thing that moves on it is its head. Not much of a robot! It doesn't appear to do anything more than act as an interface so that a parent could observe and possibly communicate with the child through VOIP.
This would never replace a human. It's more of a comfort accessory for both the child and the parent when they are seperated, whether in seperate rooms or if the child is in childcare while the parent is at work. Clearly not a substitute for adult supervision.
It all boils down to being just another fancy baby monitior.
The government does not exist to provide entertainment for the citizens. In my opinion, libraries are a waste of the taxpayers money.
The government exists to serve the people. Thus roads get built and are maintained, electricity and water is provided, as well as social aspects like museums, theaters, etc. Things that we as individuals can't afford are paid for via taxes. I'm not saying that there isn't wasteful spending of taxes, but libraries are not exactly "pork barrel" projects.
I live in Mesa, AZ, (third largest city in the state after Phoenix and Tucson) and currently they have cut the library budget so deeply that the city library can't afford to purchase new books and have turned to the public by providing a wish list for donors who would like to contribute.
And you suppose that libraries provide a good service for those who can't otherwise afford such things?
I know that they do. My family frequently visits the library - almost on a weekly basis. If we had to purchase all the books that we have ever checked out, we could not possibly afford it. Our library also provides a dozen computers with internet access (which are always in use, with waiting lines BTW) for people to use who otherwise would have no access.
Libraries are mainly used by the middle class, a class that is shrinking because of the burden of taxes.
I agree with you about the taxes to a degree, but I think that the bigger problem is that greedy companies and stockholders are demanding high profits above all else (the rich getting richer) while the middle class is expected to make do with the same salary levels as 2-3 years ago and every thing else gets more expensive. Those same companies also expect us in the middle to try to keep up by using "planned obsolescense" and encouraging us to buy, buy, buy, even when we don't really need that new car or new house or new game. This is what is pushing the middle class down to the poorer ranks, IMO.
Sheesh! First announced on January 26, 2004 and it took until March 1, 2005 to find a "mutually convenient date"?
This certainly doesn't look good in regards to getting Longhorn out any time soon...
Libraries already carry videos, DVDs and CDs, so this seems to be a logical next step for them. Libraries even used to provide record albums for checking out starting back in the '70's, so they have a long history behind this.
Making all these things available for free is what libraries are about - a resource for those who can't afford it. Not everyone can buy every $30-$50 game that they want. If the libraries are providing educational games, as well as the fun time-wasters, then its a good public service.
I believe that what's being referred to is Declan McCullagh's (the author of the above article) counter example:
- It would be just as easy to argue that True.com should be required to post labels on each page: "WARNING: TRUE.COM'S BACKGROUND SEARCHES WILL NOT IDENTIFY CRIMINALS USING FAKE NAMES. AND THE COST TO RUN THEM MAY BE PASSED ON TO YOU."
in response to True.com CEO Herb Vest's proposal:Transmission from planet Vulcan to Lord Prox... thousands of nerd-like beings are trying to access your data... *bzzt, crackle*... Malfunction! Malfunction!
This may be one of those things where on the surface it reflects well on Microsoft, good PR and all, but rarely will they actually pay out.
Look at rebates. People buy something thinking that they are going to get a $5 dollar rebate, but then there are too many steps, too much hassle to fill out the forms, or they just forget about it. Only a small precentage of the rebates are actually claimed.
Plus, who knows what kind of hoops you might have to jump through to prove that you are eligible for the $5. Maybe this is yet another way for them to get you to verify to them that you have a valid (legally paid for) OS. No valid OS, no $5.
Check out the Samus murals too!
If you enable the Mystery Science Theater 3000 feature, you can enter and read funny comments about the Samus murals. Refresh the pages to read new comments. Hilarious!
The top 5 on the "America's Most Admired Companies" list are:
1. Dell
2. General Electric Co.
3. Starbucks Corp.
4. Wal-Mart
5. Southwest Airlines
- Dell is a smart company that runs a lean & mean R&D machine. They seemingly put a lot of thought into new product introduction as well as price point. These folks are going to be hellish successful for a long time. It doesn't really matter much what product they are putting out, they seem to do it well. Hate 'em or love 'em, you gotta admire them.
You are not alone in admiring Dell. Fortune magazine has named Dell as #1 on their annual list of most admired companies.The entire VIRGOHI21 galaxy is surrounded by black monoliths and due to the speed of sound we just haven't received the message yet...
- "All these galaxies are yours except VIRGOHI21. Attempt no landings there."
The message should arrive in the year 2010 or so.From watching the preview, my guess is that Humma Kavula/John Malkovich is the character sitting at the dining room table that stands up and has no body below the edge of the table, just a bunch of tiny little robot legs. It went by so quickly that I couldn't be sure that it was Malkovich, though.
That's about one step short of the RIAA charging me every time I hear a song in a public place...
Listening to music is free, just like looking at this sculpture is free. Playing the music (esp. in public venues where it is part of a business situation: restaurants, shops, radio stations) is where the money comes into it. The RIAA wants to be reimbursed for the use of the music in those situations.
I wouldn't be surprised if the situation were similar with Cloudgate (why does this make me think of Watergate, Iran-gate, Clinton-gate and just about any other scandal in recent years?). The artist and/or whoever "owns" the sculpture wants to be reimbursed for any money made from photographs taken of the sculpture for commercial purposes, such as stock photos of Chicago for instance.
Probably the average tourist is safe, though it could be difficult to judge who is the average tourist and who is going to end up trying to profit from the photos.
Google (and Amazon,etc) encourages this. Don't believe me?
Google owns blogger.com. Blogger.com encourages bloggers to sign-up for AdSense. They even have a how-to in their help section. Quote:
- "This may shock you at first so steel yourself for the idea. Ready? We are going to start paying bloggers. Soon you will be blogging for dollars. That's right people, chocolate is to peanut butter like AdSense is to blogs."
Google likes this, because they stand to earn the most money whenever anyone clicks their AdSense ads. Bloggers get just a small piece of the action as a referrer.and...
"So, if you blog about baseball, there might be ads for Major League Baseball memorabilia next to your post. If you blog about painting, there might be ads for art supplies. In fact, when you blog about something specific, there's a good chance you'll earn more..."
They do point out that it's a no-no to start a blog just for money or to promote click-fraud (as in encouraging people to purposely click on the ads). Nor is the blogger to share with others how much they've earned. I think these areas are where Buffington has gone wrong. If you don't come out and say "I'm just blogging about this stuff to make money on the ad revenue", who is gonna know what your motives are? Face it, if there are ads, someone is trying to make some money from them.
Unless you're Mark Jen who now has Adsense on his blog 99zeros, but says that all the proceeds from it will go to charity.
I visited the weblog about 3 and 1/2 hours after this story was posted. There was only one ad showing in the AdSense box and it had the word "mesothelioma" in the title...
Already being done.
Another poster mentioned that "Unfortunately, pretty much half of a cell tower's radius would be in mostly-unoccupied ocean." Considering the pervasiveness of cell phones, boaters could use their phones for 911 calls in emergencies on the water. The use of cell phones for marine communication is becoming more the norm. The ability to reach a local tower would aid those dialing 911, enabling them to go directly to emergency services, thereby avoiding delays during emergency situations.
- Flight ZG-28 from Fort Lauderdale, FL - Saturday, Mar 12, 2005 - $3,750.00 + Tax
A more realistic (less-paid-endorsement-like) first person account of a ride on the "vomit comet" can be found here. I think that I'll stick to getting my zero gravity thrills on a roller coaster, thanks!Flight ZG-29 from Fort Lauderdale, FL - Saturday, Apr 09, 2005 - $3,750.00 + Tax
Take this thought another step... Say 10,000 people send in $12 each to some bank account that some fan sets up. That's $120,000, not enough to "save" the show since it is far below the amount needed even if Paramount were to accept the fans' money. Now what? Are they going to send the money back to everyone? Who decides what to do with all those funds? Lawsuit city, next exit....
Looks to me like they are marketing this as a portable mini-entertainment center. By including the Spiderman 2 movie, they are differentiating themselves from other handhelds.
I'm wondering how much the UMD disc movies will cost. Will people really want to buy yet another version of their favorite movies for $19.99 (price amount is just a guess)?
Yes, I have downloaded Opera 6.03 and tried it. The free version, unfortunately, has ads included. If you want the ad-free version, you need to buy it for $39. I found the free version to be slow (maybe due to the included ads? maybe not?) and page rendering was not as good on it as I would have liked. Words overlapped pictures or other words, elements don't line up properly, and message boxes often had no messages in them. It was a less than satisfactory experience for me. Based on that, I didn't really want to pay for the ad-free version. :(