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User: indytx

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Comments · 268

  1. Who's signed arbitration clause with Equifax? on While Equifax Victims Sue, Congress Limits Financial Class Actions (marketwatch.com) · · Score: 1

    Why would it get harder to sue Equifax? Did anyone sign an arbitration clause? I never agreed for the credit agencies to collect my data. This is just a ridiculous post.

  2. Re:User Interface concerns on Tesla Model 3 Owners Share More Info On Model (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    Personally I think that touchscreens are a horrible way to control a car. There's no tactile feedback on a touchscreen. One cannot tell for certain without taking one's eyes from the road what one is doing with the interface. Its bad enough for optional things like the radio and cell phone interaction, but it's a real problem for things that are mandatory when driving.

    I purchased a new car last year, and I seriously purchased one trim level down to avoid giving up all of the control knobs for a great big touchscreen. Interface problems are some of the most common complaints with new cars. So many of them are not ready for prime time. Maybe one day I can have knobs, buttons, AND Android Auto. Until then, I guess I'll have to give up a couple of extra USB ports.

  3. Re:This is great news for solar in the USA on Court Rules That Imported Solar Panels Are Bad For US Manufacturing (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    If we can get people to pay over $60K for a pickup, we can also get them to support solar panels with high profit margins. A good start would be to market "heavy duty" panels and promote them as an enabler of rugged individualism.

    Styling will also be key: for example maybe carbon-fiber frames, menacing hexagonal honeycomb collector grids, and prominent oversized exposed heat sinks on the electronics. Who wouldn't want the most bad-assed roof on their block?

    "Prepper Panels." You heard it here, first. "Fight off zombies, natural disasters, and the unwashed masses from the comfort of your air conditioned double-wide with PREPPER PANELS!" Oh, boy! Madison Avenue is calling!

  4. Back on cable for now on Cord-Cutting Still Doesn't Beat the Cable Bundle (wired.com) · · Score: 1

    We cut the cord several years ago, but we've just recently resubscribed to cable. We're in a small town without any local broadcasters, so we only get two spotty HD channels with the antenna, and we don't get PBS. We did have a few channels coming in through our cable internet which were never switched off, but just recently those were turned off by our cable provider after several years, and then suddenly no PBS, and no sports at all. I wouldn't give up small town life for a major metropolitan area again, but those of you who can just plug in an antenna and get 40 to 60 channels have it pretty good. On the other hand, lots of live sports (colleges and soccer) are only on cable, and there's no good substitute for those.

  5. Re:Ghostbusters bested Rogue One and Stranger Thin on The 2017 Hugo Awards (thehugoawards.org) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yay! Arrival won! Let's hear it for deus ex machina time travel/knowledge, garbage sci-fi!

  6. ESPN is killing Disney on Disney To Pull Its Movies From Netflix and Start Its Own Streaming Service (theverge.com) · · Score: 2

    This is really about shoring up the revenue streams. ESPN has had layoffs and major drops in revenue, and it's only going to get worse over the next several years. The whole model is changing, and C-suite types are going to get desperate.

  7. Anti-Jerry Maguire = Bad for Business on Google Fires Author of Divisive Memo On Gender Differences (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    I'm in an at will state, so I'm not going to comment on whether his firing was proper in California, but as a small business owner, I would have let him go. However, he wasn't let go because he's a jerk. He was fired for the liability. There was a stretch this year where it seemed like each week the WSJ would have something about the male-dominant culture in Silicon Valley and how so many of these companies have sexist, hostile work environments. I'm just imagining this guy being Exhibit A for a forthcoming class action lawsuit against Google. Sure, it's not Uber, but seriously? Who was EVER going to leave this guy in a position to evaluate, review, or interact with any female employees? Maybe he'll sue, and maybe he'll have a case, but can you imagine the expense of a class action suit with this guy as Exhibit A?

  8. Went to a TRS-80 Computer Camp on It's the 40th Anniversary of Radio Shack's TRS-80 (smithsonianmag.com) · · Score: 1

    I went to a Tandy TRS-80 Computer Camp one summer in the early '80's which I think was meant to get kids to berate their parents into buying a TRS-80. The camp was a waste of time, but at least it made the sales pitch for an Apple IIc easier. I still have a TRS-80 note pad floating around in my shop.

  9. My first generation Shuffle still going strong on Why Steve Jobs Loved the IPod Shuffle (wired.com) · · Score: 2

    I love my Shuffle. I'm probably in the minority here, but I still use my first generation 512 MB iPod Shuffle every week, and the original ear buds still work great. This may be one of the last Apple products which was made like an older Apple product . . . it just worked and it was built to last. For over ten years it's been my music player for working out, and on an arm band you don't notice it's there. Tough, truly great design, minimal not for the sake of being minimal but because it made sense to the function of the product. This was a truly high water mark for Apple before it went down the road of disposable products.

  10. What's good for the goose is good for the gander on Does US Have Right To Data On Overseas Servers? We're About To Find Out (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    I doubt that a ruling that the American government can seize data from overseas servers would have any power outside the borders of the USA, but it will cause a lot of headaches for companies operating inside the USA, and a LOT of headaches for American companies operating in foreign countries. The minefields are numerous, and a ruling favoring the American federal government is going to be bad for privacy in general, everywhere.

  11. Competitor to Carbonite? on Google Drive Will Soon Back Up Your Entire Computer (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    If Google plans to sell this service and have decent encryption, then it could be a good competitor for Carbonite.

  12. Back to older comments on What To Do If the Laptop Ban Goes Global (backchannel.com) · · Score: 1

    It seems as if someone has already asked a similar question here

  13. Why should Google have all the fun?

    This law was passed so the government can buy the data because government can BUY data that it otherwise would not be permitted to collect.

  14. It's very simple. Stop remaking the same movies over and over. Come up with something NEW for once.

    There's plenty of new stuff out there, just not coming out of Hollywood. Netflix has new series which are pretty good, and Amazon has some good shows that are only getting better. The Man in the High Castle is well done, and they have one of their one episode pilots based on The Book of Strange New Things which was an amazing book. The subscriptions services' business model is just different, because a LOT of money can be spent on a movie or a series without worrying about whether it the project generates profit. For Hollywood, each project has to stand alone, and the people putting up the money are risk averse.

    Irrespective of all of that, if Batman vs. Superman had been well written, none of this would matter. The original Ironman movie was incredibly well written and FUN, and the Marvel movies are usually FUN. Are the DC Comics movies FUN? What's the market for a dark, brooding movie with a crappy plot and dodgy acting about a world that cannot ever exist? Moreover, even if it were GOOD, movies have become so expensive that if you have kids you can't afford to go on a regular basis. Growing up, we saw more movies, but we had fewer other options. No DVDs or VCRs, no streaming, no INTERNET, no mobile phones. Even if movie prices are flat adjusted for inflation, peoples' incomes have been flat, adjusted for inflation, since the 1970s, and there are so many more THINGS which people spend money on.

  15. Re:Wonder why on Americans' Shift To The Suburbs Sped Up Last Year (fivethirtyeight.com) · · Score: 1

    I live in the downtown area of a large city. We have two parking spaces, a dog, and grass for her to run around on. . . . .

    I take it that you have no kids. Living downtown as an adult is awesome. As an adult with kids, well, . . . not so much.

  16. Windows 10 is bloated on Windows 7 and 8.1 Are Gaining More New Users Than Windows 10 (digitaltrends.com) · · Score: 2

    Why is it a surprise that an OS created for desktop and mobile doesn't run as well as one written exclusively for desktops? Why is it a surprise that small businesses prefer an OS that works better for them than the "upgrade" which removed Pro features? Apple and M$ are both dumbing down their professional offerings. I anticipate the day when I'll have to go full Linux just to have something professional grade, and I'll have a single box for QuickBooks. Alas.

  17. As a small business owner, I can absolutely say that I feel abandoned by M$. Windows update on Windows 10 "Professional" is enough to keep me at 7. I have never owned the enterprise version, and I shouldn't have to buy it and learn how it's different just to get back update control.

  18. Twitter is not profitable on No One Wants To Buy Twitter (theverge.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    All the talk about censorship of certain users misses the point. TWITTER IS NOT PROFITABLE. Twitter has been around for, what, 10 years, and it still cannot make a profit. It has a stupid business model because TWITTER DOES NOT MAKE A PROFIT. If someone had a decent idea how to monetize the service to turn a profit it would have done so. Dorsey took charge, again, and still no profit. The headline could read "No One Buys Money Losing Tech Company."

  19. Re:DVDs instead of streaming on Netflix Now Only Has 31 Movies From IMDB's Top 250 List (streamingobserver.com) · · Score: 1

    This is why I get their DVDs instead of streaming. I haven't made a count but they have a far higher percentage than that on DVD. I've gotten the impression they have 8 or 10 times as many movies on DVD as on streaming.

    Netflix has almost EVERYTHING on DVD/BR.

  20. Re:We burn a ton of DVD's every week on Ask Slashdot: Do You Still Use Optical Media? · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but that's a LAW FIRM. You also use FAX on a daily basis.

    Actually, at least in Texas, most of the civil courts, and some of the criminal courts, have transitioned to electronic filing which provides for electronic service. It's truly fantastic. Sure, everyone still HAS a facsimile machine, but I also keep a typewriter and a VCR which haven't been used in years. Law firms re old tech central, but that doesn't mean most of the old tech is ever used. It's all for JUST IN CASE.

  21. Re:If my 11 year old washing machine nets me $50.. on Woman Wins $10,000 Lawsuit Against Microsoft Over Windows 10 Upgrades (seattletimes.com) · · Score: 1

    My guess is Microsoft didn't quit this lawsuit because it just didn't feel like litigating that day, they did to halt the contagion of a precedent of four or five figure legal decisions over their Win 10 upgrade.

    Except this woman won her lawsuit. Microsoft dropped their appeal. The precedent has been set. You might need to prove exactly what the forced Windows 10 "upgrade" cost you, but you can cite this case along with your proof. (BTW, you can't just "quit" a lawsuit if you are the defendant, but you could try to arrange a settlement to avoid setting legal precedent.)

    "Precedent" means you can cite something. You can cite an appellate decision. Something that happened in small claims court . . . not so much.

  22. This is a good price point for a disposabl product on Xiaomi's Mi Band 2 Fitness Tracker Featuring OLED Display Launched at $23 (cnet.com) · · Score: 1

    We have three Fitbit trackers in my household. I received one, a Charge, as a gift a little over a year ago, and it died. Not, "it doesn't stay charged," but "DIED." I won't charge, it won't sync. It can't be updated. It can't be found. I'm out of warranty, so I was offered a coupon by Fitbit support, but I would still be spending over $80 for something which, if you read the forums, is going to die another, eventually frustrating death. The Fitbit Charge should last about a week on a single charge, so it could not make it to 100 charge cycles? Really? In 2016? Not impressed. Give me something cheap and I won't mind. A $100 pair of ear buds which die in a year equals rage. A $20 pair? Meh.

    While I'm on thinking about it, another thing which I don't like about all of these trackers is that they "track." For the most part, you're spending more $$$ to upload your data to a corporation. I don't want to pay to be the product. I've gone back to an old chest strap and watch combo which I've had for years because their batteries, which you can buy by the handful on Amazon for cheap, are replaceable. Oh, and I don't have to use Bluetooth for anything to work. Sometimes you don't need to chart your exercise. You just need to exercise.

  23. Re:C'mon Microsoft! WTF? on 'Get Windows 10' Turns Itself On and Nags Win 7 and 8.1 Users Twice a Day (infoworld.com) · · Score: 1

    This right here. Not only is it tax season, but a currently supported version of QuickBooks Pro (which you have to upgrade every 3 years to keep using their payroll service) has a pop-up notification saying it WON'T WORK WITH WINDOWS 10. If you're a small business owner, your accounting software is not a small expense, and the "free" update to Windows 10 will end up costing you all kinds of money. I'm running Windows 10 on one of my laptops, and it's installed on a receptionist's computer. It's fine, but it's just an operating system. There haven't been too many hiccups, but it hasn't changed anyone's life. It would be nice if business owners could still update for "free" when they're sure that all of the mission critical software will still work.

  24. Tim Cook's Out of Ideas on Pursuit of Slenderness May Mean No More Headphone Jack In iPhone 7 (pcmag.com) · · Score: 0

    The Apple Watch will never be more than a niche product even if it's the most successful smart watch by a long margin. There's just no case for most people to buy one. Sales of the iPad are in trouble. The only bright spot is phones, and it's a pretty mature market at this point. This is just one more way to increase revenue on accessories because there are no groundbreaking products on the horizon. Sure, Apple will continue to sell gargantuan numbers of phones in Asia and other developing markets, but I would suspect that the average "middle class" mobile phone buyer in a developing market is not going to replace their mobile phone every year for something newer, shinier, and really not much better. If Apple can squeeze $20 out of each of these folks it adds up into a lot of money.

  25. Re:Honestly ... on VTech Hack Exposes Data On 4.8 Million Adults, 200,000 Kids (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    The problem is that this "crap" is given to your kid as a gift and requires a software installation to run, and unless you want to tell your kid "no" and explain that their gift will never work you set up the account.