60 million people are a lot of people, but as many large numbers it's hard to conceptualize. To put it in contrast, in 2000 George 'Dubya' Bush got 50,456,002 votes (source: Wikipedia ). Does that mean there are more criminals walking the streets than people who voted for the president?
When there are so many people breaking a law, isn't it time to revise the law, rather than futilely try to enforce it?
Too bad the rest of Voting America disagrees... Admitting to getting drunk and snorting coke (even if it's in a past long forgotten) is the rough equivalent to admitting you are a neo-nazi child molestor.
Do you think that this story was posted under "it's funny. Laugh" by accident?
If you, even for a second, thought this was claiming to be serious mathematics, I pity both you and the mods who modded you to +3.
This is more insightful than it is funny. As long as I'm not directly hurt by X, X is an innovation and A Good Thing(tm). When X becomes harmful it quickly becomes a problem.
A fun exercise left to the reader:
1. Substitute X = filesharing
2. Substitute X = outsourcing
but weren't Newton's ideas debunked by Einstein's theory of relativity? Shouldn't we be focusing on the physicists who got it right, not the ones who were wrong.
Newton's equations work in the normal world. It's not until you start playing with extremes that any difference is present. Newtonian physics is still tought in schools. What does that tell you?
Untrue. Most people I know use Winamp instead of Windows Media Player, despite the fact that the latter is integrated into Windows and can't be uninstalled. Just like IE.
All that needs to happen is for Firefox to acquire a critical mass. If/when that happens people will start switching.
...then buy a telephone which is just a telephone. Those who want more bells&whistles will get a phone with more bells&whistles.
I never got while people complained about today's phones being too complex; older phones, which are just that - phones, can still be purchased and can be purchased at a price lower than a 'new' phones can.
But, don't forget - not everyone has gmail yet (so it's not a question of people going back to hotmail - it's a question of less people switching to gmail when it goes public), and a switch isn't hassle free; people need to inform everyone of their new email address, import their old address book, etc. With the biggest issue which is space, no longer being an issue I can see many people sticking to hotmail even after gmail goes public. I mean, sure conversation grouping and labels are nice, but for many people this alone isn't enough to justify the inconvenience of changing an email address.
TOWARD the end of the latest Tom Cruise thriller, "Collateral," the story's action turns on the performance of a player new to most movie audiences. For a suspense-charged moment Mr. Cruise and his co-star, Jamie Foxx, are upstaged by a silvery finger of portable storage technology.
Advertisement
In recent months, these slender solid-state memory chips - known by many names, but officially U.S.B. flash drives - have increasingly been seen blinking from the ports of computers in classrooms and libraries, conference rooms and offices, coffee shops and airport lounges.
And when the devices, which can cost less than a music CD, are not being used to store or retrieve data, they often dangle from key chains and backpacks - or even from the necks of users - as if pendants signifying a cult of convenient computing. Some are built discreetly into pens or wristwatches; a maker in the Far East is now marketing them in the form of lipstick tubes. "It's such an easy technology," said David K. Helmly, senior business development manager for digital video and video imaging of Adobe Systems, who keeps one in his pocket, another inside a pen and sometimes another on a lanyard around his neck. "I'm a total believer in the technology."
Portable hard drives and high-capacity storage devices like Jaz and Zip drives came before it, but the flash drive has changed the equation.
Mr. Helmly, for example, has largely stopped lugging a laptop from office to office, or to his home in Annapolis, Md., because he can tuck away what he needs on a flash drive that is extremely lightweight.
In some cases, flash drives have suddenly become so commonplace that, as with cellphones, their owners are adding fashion touches to lend them a personal identity. Many are being made in iPod-ish ivory and a range of candy colors; lots are as shiny as new spoons.
"Anything you wear around your neck becomes jewelry," said Ellen Lupton, director of the master of fine arts program in graphic design at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and the curator of contemporary design at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York.
And wear it around her neck is what she does. "A lanyard comes with them," Ms. Lupton said. "You're going to wear it, and if you're going wear it you want it to be cool. Why hide it?" To hers, she has added a wrap of decorative tape. "People really comment on it because they think it looks nice," she said.
Sales of U.S.B. flash drives - also referred to as thumb drives or jump drives, among other names - have tripled over the last year, and the U.S.B. Flash Drive Alliance, a trade group created last year to promote their use, has projected that they will be the leading removable solid-state storage format by next year, surpassing Secure Digital cards and memory sticks. Some 67 million to 120 million of the drives are expected to be shipped worldwide in 2005, said Steffen Hellmold, president of the alliance. Web-Feet, a research firm, forecasts that the worldwide market for U.S.B. flash drives will reach $4.5 billion in 2006 and $5.5 billion in 2007.
"It's huge," Mark Rogers, business development manager for Verbatim, a maker of a range of flash drives, from a 32-megabyte model that cost about $20 to its two-gigabyte, $500 Store 'n' Go Pro drive.
"It was so small before last year it was under the radar," he said. "Then all of a sudden people starting taking notice."
Not least among the factors in the demand for such storage devices has been the escalation in file sizes of everything from digital photos to PowerPoint presentations. And unlike burning a CD, using a flash drive is a simple drop-and-drag operation.
Other makers are also, not surprisingly, bullish on their products. Mike Wong, a spokesman for SanDisk, said U.S.B. flash drives are "the floppy disks of the 21st century - they are an extension of our handbags, our pockets."
if there is energy, then there exists the potential for something to exploit that energy. And more often the not, something does....and water. Energy and water are the requirements for life as we know it. Energy alone isn't enough - if it was the Sahara desert would be booming with life.
A two stories below this one, the following gem lies:
Privately funded in 1993, now with customers in 40 countries* and over $67 million** in cash reserves, the company experienced a phenomenal growth and continues to aggressively pursue new frontiers in order to meet or exceed the needs of most demanding customers by providing a scalable, seamless, comprehensive offering.
Leveraging our paradigm-shifting product line with state of the art technology developed by a dedicated team of professionals, we offer a significant competitive advantage on the diversified but fragmented market of best of breed anti-spam solutions.
I get 2-3 spam messages per week on my most active mail account, but then again I bring new levels of paranioa to the playing field when giving out my e-mail. I wonder, am I alone in receiving so little spam?
Slashdot Mirror
/. logic:
evil==monopoly
Walmart==Evil
therefore:
walmart==monopoly
60 million people are a lot of people, but as many large numbers it's hard to conceptualize. To put it in contrast, in 2000 George 'Dubya' Bush got 50,456,002 votes (source: Wikipedia ). Does that mean there are more criminals walking the streets than people who voted for the president?
When there are so many people breaking a law, isn't it time to revise the law, rather than futilely try to enforce it?
Too bad the rest of Voting America disagrees... Admitting to getting drunk and snorting coke (even if it's in a past long forgotten) is the rough equivalent to admitting you are a neo-nazi child molestor.
Your post is probably too late.
Do you think that this story was posted under "it's funny. Laugh" by accident?
If you, even for a second, thought this was claiming to be serious mathematics, I pity both you and the mods who modded you to +3.
This is more insightful than it is funny. As long as I'm not directly hurt by X, X is an innovation and A Good Thing(tm). When X becomes harmful it quickly becomes a problem.
/awaits to be modded troll/flamebait
A fun exercise left to the reader:
1. Substitute X = filesharing
2. Substitute X = outsourcing
Newton's equations work in the normal world. It's not until you start playing with extremes that any difference is present. Newtonian physics is still tought in schools. What does that tell you?
But if they only allow you to view a couple of pages at a time, you can't walk off with a free book. So why do they need to break my browser?
Untrue. Most people I know use Winamp instead of Windows Media Player, despite the fact that the latter is integrated into Windows and can't be uninstalled. Just like IE. All that needs to happen is for Firefox to acquire a critical mass. If/when that happens people will start switching.
So am I the only one thinks the wide success of The Sims is due to its strangely voyeuristic elements?
(yes, I'm only half-serious)
Somethingawful recently featured an article which makes a pretty interesting read =)
...then buy a telephone which is just a telephone. Those who want more bells&whistles will get a phone with more bells&whistles.
I never got while people complained about today's phones being too complex; older phones, which are just that - phones, can still be purchased and can be purchased at a price lower than a 'new' phones can.
But, don't forget - not everyone has gmail yet (so it's not a question of people going back to hotmail - it's a question of less people switching to gmail when it goes public), and a switch isn't hassle free; people need to inform everyone of their new email address, import their old address book, etc.
With the biggest issue which is space, no longer being an issue I can see many people sticking to hotmail even after gmail goes public.
I mean, sure conversation grouping and labels are nice, but for many people this alone isn't enough to justify the inconvenience of changing an email address.
...I expect everyone to start complaining about ./ becoming an advertising outlet in 3, 2, 1...
From Storage, a New Fashion
By MICHEL MARRIOTT
Published: September 23, 2004
TOWARD the end of the latest Tom Cruise thriller, "Collateral," the story's action turns on the performance of a player new to most movie audiences. For a suspense-charged moment Mr. Cruise and his co-star, Jamie Foxx, are upstaged by a silvery finger of portable storage technology.
Advertisement
In recent months, these slender solid-state memory chips - known by many names, but officially U.S.B. flash drives - have increasingly been seen blinking from the ports of computers in classrooms and libraries, conference rooms and offices, coffee shops and airport lounges.
And when the devices, which can cost less than a music CD, are not being used to store or retrieve data, they often dangle from key chains and backpacks - or even from the necks of users - as if pendants signifying a cult of convenient computing. Some are built discreetly into pens or wristwatches; a maker in the Far East is now marketing them in the form of lipstick tubes. "It's such an easy technology," said David K. Helmly, senior business development manager for digital video and video imaging of Adobe Systems, who keeps one in his pocket, another inside a pen and sometimes another on a lanyard around his neck. "I'm a total believer in the technology."
Portable hard drives and high-capacity storage devices like Jaz and Zip drives came before it, but the flash drive has changed the equation.
Mr. Helmly, for example, has largely stopped lugging a laptop from office to office, or to his home in Annapolis, Md., because he can tuck away what he needs on a flash drive that is extremely lightweight.
In some cases, flash drives have suddenly become so commonplace that, as with cellphones, their owners are adding fashion touches to lend them a personal identity. Many are being made in iPod-ish ivory and a range of candy colors; lots are as shiny as new spoons.
"Anything you wear around your neck becomes jewelry," said Ellen Lupton, director of the master of fine arts program in graphic design at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and the curator of contemporary design at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York.
And wear it around her neck is what she does. "A lanyard comes with them," Ms. Lupton said. "You're going to wear it, and if you're going wear it you want it to be cool. Why hide it?" To hers, she has added a wrap of decorative tape. "People really comment on it because they think it looks nice," she said.
Sales of U.S.B. flash drives - also referred to as thumb drives or jump drives, among other names - have tripled over the last year, and the U.S.B. Flash Drive Alliance, a trade group created last year to promote their use, has projected that they will be the leading removable solid-state storage format by next year, surpassing Secure Digital cards and memory sticks. Some 67 million to 120 million of the drives are expected to be shipped worldwide in 2005, said Steffen Hellmold, president of the alliance. Web-Feet, a research firm, forecasts that the worldwide market for U.S.B. flash drives will reach $4.5 billion in 2006 and $5.5 billion in 2007.
"It's huge," Mark Rogers, business development manager for Verbatim, a maker of a range of flash drives, from a 32-megabyte model that cost about $20 to its two-gigabyte, $500 Store 'n' Go Pro drive.
"It was so small before last year it was under the radar," he said. "Then all of a sudden people starting taking notice."
Not least among the factors in the demand for such storage devices has been the escalation in file sizes of everything from digital photos to PowerPoint presentations. And unlike burning a CD, using a flash drive is a simple drop-and-drag operation.
Other makers are also, not surprisingly, bullish on their products. Mike Wong, a spokesman for SanDisk, said U.S.B. flash drives are "the floppy disks of the 21st century - they are an extension of our handbags, our pockets."
if there is energy, then there exists the potential for something to exploit that energy. And more often the not, something does. ...and water. Energy and water are the requirements for life as we know it. Energy alone isn't enough - if it was the Sahara desert would be booming with life.
Too bad he has no, and never will have any, real power
A two stories below this one, the following gem lies:
Privately funded in 1993, now with customers in 40 countries* and over $67 million** in cash reserves, the company experienced a phenomenal growth and continues to aggressively pursue new frontiers in order to meet or exceed the needs of most demanding customers by providing a scalable, seamless, comprehensive offering.
Leveraging our paradigm-shifting product line with state of the art technology developed by a dedicated team of professionals, we offer a significant competitive advantage on the diversified but fragmented market of best of breed anti-spam solutions.
I get 2-3 spam messages per week on my most active mail account, but then again I bring new levels of paranioa to the playing field when giving out my e-mail. I wonder, am I alone in receiving so little spam?
Start reading Slashdot?